Finding Each Other
by everydaywonderful
Summary: This a continuation of my story Finding Home. This isn't a sequel but a series of short stories that unfortunately didn't fit into the original story. The stories will mostly be Poppy and Branch themed, but I will show the relationships of both Poppy and Branch with other characters.


**This is a series of short stories that didn't fit into my original story, Finding Home. I recommend reading the original story first, as many themes from the original are in these stories.**

 **This story takes place in two time periods. The present is a few months after the movie. The Flashback is before Branch's "Fig scene" in my original story. So Poppy is 16 and Branch is 21 Years old, roughly.**

 **Enjoy**

 **Finding Home Side story:**

 **Finding Branch's Bunker**

Branch and Poppy were sitting lazily against one another at the base of the troll tree. Poppy's scrapbooking supplies in complete disarray around them. Poppy had obviously given up on her project and laid her on Branch legs to fully enjoy their moment of peace. The last few months had been nothing but work for the newly crowned Queen but with hard effort from all of her people the troll tree had finally started to work functionally society again. Now with the workload easing, they finally had a moment together with no responsibilities.

Poppy opened her eyes to look at Branch. He seemed to be lost in thought, the faintest hint of a scowl showing on his features, almost as if he was trying to figure something out.

" Something on your mind?" Poppy asked languidly, not wanting to actually lift her head off the comfortable spot on his legs.

Branch looked down at her quizzically. " How did you come to find my bunker?"

"Not that I object, mind you" Branch quickly explained, giving her a reassuring smile. "But, I went to extreme lengths to camouflage that place."

Poppy laughed out loud. She was wondering when he was going to ask. It was probably killing him not knowing how she figured it out.

 _Flashback_

Down deep in the thick lush greenery of the forest floor, Poppy and her friends were relaxing from the strenuous dance number they had just perform moments ago. Quite pleased with how it turned out, they made their way to a shaded spot under a large blue mushroom. Unfortunately the shade only gave temporary relief from the stifling heat of the day.

Poppy looked around at her friends, they were still trying to catch their breaths from exhausting dance routine, fanning themselves with their hands to keep cool. Suddenly a great idea popped into her head.

" Anyone up for a hike to the spring?" She asked.

" That sounds amazing!" Biggie exclaimed. Everyone nodded collectively at the thought of the cool waters of the spring. Poppy was happy that everyone agreed.

"But what about our bathing suits?" Satin and Chenille questioned in unison.

Poppy had forgot about that. She placed her finger to her lips giving a perplexed look at the ground. She looked up quickly with an answer to their problem.

"How about we walk back and get everything we need, then in the late afternoon we will all go. That way when we walk home, the temperature will already be going down and we won't get hot again from walking home from the spring!" Poppy stated, hoping everyone agreed with her solution.

" Yeah!" They all cheered.

As the traveled back to the village, the telltale Bing sound of their hug time bracelets went off. Poppy instinctively looked at her wrist to admire the little flower, but her wrist was bare. As her friends huddled around her they noticed her look of dismay.

" My bracelet." Poppy said looking around in disbelief.

"Oh no it must have fallen off during our dance number," Copper declared loudly.

"Lets head back." Guy Diamond offered cheerfully.

"It's Ok," Poppy reassured her friends, "We are already so close to home. How about one of you gets my beach stuff from my pod and meet me there. My bracelet is halfway towards the spring anyways. It would be a waste to go all the way back twice."

"Do you want me to accompany you?" Creek asked.

"Oh...uh, Sure!" Poppy stammered a little too eagerly. Poppy gave an enthusiastic wave to her friends as the set off to the village. She turned around to give Creek her best smile, when she noticed his look of worry.

"I am so sorry Poppy, I just remembered I promised Cybil that I would teach her chakra lessons for her this afternoon," He gave her a apologetic smile. " It completely slipped my mind, sorry love."

Poppy tried her best to hide her disappointment from her crush. "That's fine! I am sure a nice walk will give me a chance to appreciate the beauty of the forest." Poppy exclaimed optimistically.

"That's the spirit," Creek agreed, happy to see she wasn't disappointed, "Very beneficial for your mediation practice." He teased, causing her to blush.

"Have fun teaching!" Poppy said while waving goodbye.

As much as she wanted to enjoy the beauty of the forest like she told Creek she would, she couldn't help but think of the purple troll. She tried her best not be disappointed that he couldn't join her. It would have been a perfect romantic time alone, which they never seemed to get. Whenever there was a moment, her friends were sure to interrupt. Poppy let out a frustrated sigh. Her crush on Creek had just started to form. His calm atmosphere made him seem more worldly than the other trolls. He was older than her but never found her cheerfulness overbearing. And she couldn't help but notice that he was a very handsome troll.

Completely lost in thought, Poppy had walked past the large mushroom they had recently sat under. She continued forward, forgetting the task at hand and taking the wrong fork in the road instead. By the time she had realized her mistake, she didn't have a clue where she was. This part of the forest was so dense that even looking up to find the direction of the sun was impossible. There was the smallest clearing in front of her with a large rock face casting the ground in deep shade. She went to turn around the way she came but grass and shrubs hid the path she took. She couldn't believe it. She was lost.

Poppy looked around in every direction for a sign or clue of where to go. She felt so embarrassed of herself. She hadn't got herself lost since she was a little girl and that time the paranoid grey troll Branch had come to her rescue, reluctantly. Unfortunately no one was here this time.

The suddenly snapping sound of a twig in the distance caused Poppy to jump. She looked around to find the direction that the sound came from. Then a heavy grunting sound echoed from the trees in front of her. She covered her mouth to suppress the gasp that had escaped her lips, trying her hardest not to make another sound. She quickly got behind one the shrubs grabbing her tall pink hair to hide it from view. She camouflaged herself green in attempts to blend in from the creature approaching. As the snaps and cracks from the footstep came closer, Poppy couldn't help but wish Creek were there with her.

She peeked quietly through the leaves to see what had entered the small clearing in front of her. The lone survivalist grey troll had lumbered heavily into view, carrying two large wooden buckets of water. He stepped into the deep shade beside the rock wall. With one last grunt he heave the buckets onto the grass, giving a thankful sigh that they were finally at their destination. Branch gave his sore shoulders a rub while taking off his backpack, tossing it carelessly to the ground. He walked over to the rock, leaning his back against the cool surface, sliding down till he was sitting comfortably on the grass.

'Branch?' Poppy said to herself. She gave a huge sigh of relief. He could help her get back. Just as she was about to let her hair spring back up and come out to greet him, she paused. A look of pure relief came across his features that stopped her in her tracks. She had never seen him look so peaceful. Whenever she ran into him in the past, he always adored some form of scowl. She honestly didn't think he was capable of looking so relaxed. All of the lines around his eyes that were starting to form on his young face were completely gone, making him look his real age for the first time.

Poppy allowed herself to take full advantage of her hiding spot by studying Branch's features. She couldn't believe that she was thinking this, but he had a surprisingly striking face. His downward cast ears gave him a unique look compared to the other trolls in the village. And his larger nose seemed to frame his face quite well. She began to wonder what he would look like if his colors returned. His grey complexion had the faintest hint of a light blue or maybe even green coloring. His black hair on the other hand gave no indication, which allowed her to use her imagination. The only real color to remain from becoming grey was his bright blue eyes making her wonder why they hadn't changed as well. Poppy suddenly was forced away from her daydreams when the subject of her imagination began to move.

Branch had sat up to reach into his bag, grabbing a towel to wipe off the sweat his face. She noticed how his expression had changed from a look of relaxation to satisfaction as he glaced over at the large buckets of water he had carried into the clearing. Could she really be seeing what she thought she was seeing? Was he smiling? Poppy of course had seen him smile before, he always gave a rude fake smile whenever he was being sarcastic, but this was different. She could see the sincerity in his eyes.

Before she couldn't finish admiring his appearance his smile left. He began to begrudgingly lift himself from the cool rock wall and set back to work. He rummaged through his backpack until he found a large piece of rope. He walked over to a bucket and tied the rope around the handle. Making his way back to his backpack he grabbed a tuft of grass beside it. With a little effort he pulled on the grass until a hidden trap door had opened from the ground.

Poppy watched as he slowly lowered both buckets carefully with the rope down into his bunker. She could hardly believe it. She had finally found his bunker. In the past whenever she had run into Branch she always asked him where he lived, to which he always replied that it was none of her business.

With his work done, Branch laid back down in the shade, grabbing his backpack and placing it under his head to use as a pillow. He gave one last look around to make sure he was completely alone, stopping to look intently in her direction. Poppy held her breath; she could feel her heart beating wildly in her ears because for a split second she thought he saw her. He let out yawn as he lowered himself onto the forest floor and closed his eyes.

She let out a silent relieved sigh. Poppy suddenly came to her senses. What had she been doing this entire time? She was lost and needed help finding her way back to her friends who were now probably back to their meeting place, wondering where their princess had gone. She bit her lip anxiously. She couldn't just pop out from behind the bushes now, too much time had past and if she did, Branch would know that she had been there the entire time…staring at him like some sort of stalker. Her heart was racing. What should she do? She needed his help but her legs wouldn't allow her to move.

Before she had even heard it herself she watched as Branch's eyes suddenly shot open. He leapt from his position, his cautious scowl returning, looking frantically around for the sound he had heard. This time she had heard it. Her friends, they were calling for her in the distance.

Branch quickly threw his backpack into the hole before lowering himself down. She watched as the latch door came down, hiding all evidence that there had been a door there at all. Poppy slowly let go of her hair that she had unknowingly clutched with a death grip. She slowly began to move from her spot, cautious of her footing, unsure if he could hear her moving above him from his underground home.

"Poppppyyyy!"

She turned quickly towards the direction of her friends calling out to her. Before following the sounds of their voices back to the path, she took one last look at Branch's home. She studied the features of the rock and all of the surroundings. She burned them into her memory, so she could find her way back someday.

As she walked through the dense grass back onto the path she saw her friends scattered around in search of her.

"POPPY!" Guy Diamond cheered enthusiastically, running up to her to give her a big hug. The rest of her friends heard and joined them in an impromptu hug time.

" Where were you?" Satin asked.

"We were worried sick!" Chenille finished

" Look, we found your bracelet!" Biggie exclaimed, handing it back to her.

Poppy thankfully took her bracelet back, completely forgetting that she had even lost it.

" I was…" Poppy stammered, pausing for a second. " I just got lost! Silly me. I let my imagination take over and before I knew it I was complete lost!"

Everyone seemed to buy her story, just glad that she was ok. They all turned back onto the path towards the spring. Poppy couldn't believe she had just lied to her friends. She never kept secrets from them, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them the truth. For some reason, the idea of telling everybody that she had finally found Branch's bunker felt as if she would be betraying him. She was surprised by her newfound respect for his need for privacy. Deep down she knew she wanted to be the only one to know his secret.

 _End of flashback_

Poppy smiled at the memory of that day. She was about to tell him how she had stumbled across his bunker when she paused. Suddenly a strange thought came to the surface of her mind. She slowly began piecing it together in her mind. She let out a small laugh in disbelief, startling Branch above her.

'Creek…' Poppy thought. If it wasn't for her crush on Creek, she wouldn't have been distracted enough to get lost and find Branch's bunker, the bunker that she brought the figs to which started Branch's crush on her. Poppy sat up from her realization. Everything was starting to connect. If Creek hadn't betrayed them, then Poppy never would have turned grey, forcing Branch to finally confess his love for her to regain her colors. Her silly little crush on Creek set off the series of events that lead to her and Branch falling in love.

"Hmm, I should have thanked Creek…" Poppy said absentmindedly, not realizing she had said it aloud.

"WHAT!?"

Branch looked at her with a combination of shock, anger and confusion. Poppy couldn't help but burst out laughing at his reaction. She quickly gave him a small kiss to ease his worry, which only proved confuse him further.

 **The End**

 **Thank you again for your support, likes, favourites and reviews. I enjoy reading everyones reaction to my original story. I never imagined it would be that popular. I hope you enjoyed the first of my short stories. I plan to make another one in the next few weeks. Please let me know what you thought of this story and what I can do to improve. Contructive criticisms wanted.**


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